pecan pie larabars

My sister recently asked friends to share some healthy snack recipes for kids and this is one of the beauties that she got. She made a batch and shared with me on Thursday. I made my own batch on Friday. They are THAT good. I couldn’t even wait a whole day.

The kids love them. The only ingredients are nuts and fruit. They require no baking…bonus. I might just call them ‘nut and date bars’ or ‘pecan pie bars’, though. Because for some reason when I see the word larabars, my mind thinks it sees labradors……and that’s just less appetizing. 🙂

ApparentlyLarabars are a real product. I guess I’ve always seemed to skip them at the store. I’m sure they’re good. But these are AWESOME!

The recipe is from here at Deliciously Organic. (which is a great site and you should check her out!)

Pecan Pie Larabars

4 1/2 cups pitted dates

3/4 cup almonds

3/4 cup pecans

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla

3/4 teaspoon cinnamon

pinch of sea salt

1. Line an 8×8 baking pan with parchment paper (horizontally and vertically) and then brush with coconut oil.

2. Pour dates into food processor and process until they become paste-like and form a ball in the bowl (if your dates are very dry you can add a tablespoon or two of hot water to help them break down). Pour dates into a large mixing bowl. Place almonds and pecans in food processor and pulse until coarsely chopped. Pour the nuts over the dates and also add the vanilla, cinnamon, and pinch of salt. Using your hands, mix all ingredients until combined. Press mixture into baking pan, cover (I just used the parchment that was hanging over the sides of the pan) and place in the fridge for about 30 minutes. Remove from fridge and cut into 10 evenly-sized bars.

**You can substitute just about any type of nut for the ones I have listed. If you used all almonds, then some almond extract would be great (omitting the cinnamon). Other dried fruits would work well with these too.

Some things I did differently from the above recipe…….

I pulsed the nuts to a chunky powder first and took a small scoop out so that I could sprinkle that on the top of the bars at the end. (my sister had slivered almonds and she added that to the top…..it looked nice too) Then I added the dates to the mixture and pulsed. I never even had to use my hands to mix it. The machine did all the work. And, I actually had about a cup less dates than is listed here…..but they still turned out perfectly. Very forgiving recipe. I added a tablespoon of coconut oil instead of water. (because my favorite part of my sisters bar was the little chunks of coconut oil residue on the bottom of the bar……YUM) Oh and in my haste to get it done and in the fridge so I could eat it…… I forgot to add the cinnamon. Next time…..(tomorrow).